Moneros

Monero, sometimes referred to as Moneros by some, is an open-source, privacy-focused cryptocurrency (ticker XMR) launched in 2014 as a fork of Bytecoin and based on the CryptoNote protocol. It is designed to be fungible and private by default, aiming to prevent public linkage between transactions and users.

Technically, Monero achieves privacy through several mechanisms. Ring signatures mix a spender’s input with several decoy inputs, obscuring the true source of funds. Stealth addresses generate one-time addresses for each transaction, enhancing recipient privacy. RingCT (ring confidential transactions) hides transaction amounts, and Bulletproofs reduce the size of confidential transactions, improving efficiency. The network also employs dynamic block sizes and decoy inputs to further complicate tracing attempts.

Monero has no fixed supply cap. After the initial emission approaches a defined threshold, the protocol introduces a tail emission of a small, perpetual per-block reward (commonly described as 0.6 XMR per block) to maintain miner incentives and support ongoing fungibility and network security.

Adoption and ecosystem include wallet implementations, exchanges, and merchant acceptance. Users can interact with Monero through official and third-party wallets, mining software, and services that support XMR. The project is maintained by a decentralized, community-driven development model with code hosted publicly and contributions from researchers, developers, and volunteers around the world. Governance is informal, with decisions arising from community consensus and contributor input rather than a centralized authority.